I'm a Libertarian living in Humboldt County, CA. I've lived here in Eureka since 1973 and joined the Libertarian Party in 1992. This blog will mostly focus on local political issues, but I may stray into state and national issues as well, when I can't help myself. Please post your comments by clicking on the "comments" link at the bottom of each post. Although I do moderate comments, you need not be a registered user to post them.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

St. Joes E.R. Takes Over Urgent Care

It's good to see St. Joseph's isn't totally getting rid of their Urgent Care Dept. The Times- Standard reports the Urgent Care Clinic is being closed but their new Emergency Room will have extra beds to handle urgent non- emergency cases. This is good.

However, as I've pointed out here before, Urgent Care is still quite expensive and is sure to remain so. Certainly not as expensive as emergency care, but much more expensive than a regular doctor visit.

I forget exactly how much I paid when I went to Urgent Care a couple years ago. I think it was over $300.00 for a one hour visit, even after the early pay discounts. As I wrote back then, I wouldn't have done that if I'd known it would be so expensive. Best to wait for your regular doctor if you can.

6 Comments:

Gosh, if only someone wanted to do something about the only industrialized nation on Earth that hasn't figured out how to lower its healthcare costs. It's too bad we don't have any ideas how to accomplish that. Darn!

Take a good look at Executive pay. The CEOs of the Health Insurance companies and Hospital Systems are out of line. Yes, I know, you have to pay to get the talent. HA! The "Talent" make expensive mistakes and then get a Golden Handshake to make them (the Exec) go away.

We had a job change in my family and a six month period where my wife was uninsurable because she has (very mild) asthma. Come January 1, 2014 that discrimination will no longer be possible thanks to Obama caring.

I love the name Obamacare. The GOP slur backfired big time. Even Democrats use it now because people are becoming familiar with the benefits of Obamacare.

The emergency room is a nightmare because for people with no insurance it is the only option. Those bills never get paid. So why can't we just agree everybody deserves to see a doctor? Preventative medicine is much, much cheaper then paying for all these ER visits.

Anonymous #2 --> Good points, just like what went down with the National Football League and the "replacement ref scandal".

Regular refs come back and frack-up as bad or worse than "The Replacements".

The NFL, and other pro sports leagues, are GREAT EXAMPLES that show Americanized governances have moled into our social gathering experiences, for the worst, not for the better. Pro sports is an extortionists' paradise with all the fines and such being fabricated because the high-rollers are playing the game! - HOJ